We always expected Epic Games’ Fortnite, specifically Fortnite: Battle Royale, to be a massive success on the Nintendo Switch. It seems to have gone fairly beyond our expectations though. According to Nintendo in its recent earnings report, Fortnite is installed on “nearly half” of all Switch consoles.
For reference, the company confirmed that 22.86 million Switch units have been sold as of September 30th. Going by the “nearly half” measurement, that would mean the Battle Royale title is on at least 10 million Switch consoles worldwide (though Nintendo didn’t provide explicit figures). The title’s free-to-play nature is arguably to be credited for its massive player base on Switch.
Nintendo noted that “many people” play the game on Switch, and as result, this is “boosting the overall utilization ratio” of the platform. The overall portability of the game on Switch was another contributing factor, according to Nintendo. The success of its monetization on other platforms has also been fairly well documented. That said, it did trail behind Destiny 2 in digital download sales for September 2018.
